Albert
History Origin Albert was originally an unnamed android construct developed by Donald Pierce and his Reavers in 1991 at their base in Australia. This robotic double was created as an elaborate plot to kill James Howlett, the Mutant known as Wolverine. This androids construction was followed by the development of a female counterpart resembling a five year old girl called Elsie-Dee who was to serve as bait as part of Wolverine's assassination. Pierce's plan was to unleash the fake Wolverine to attract the real one into a burning building with the young Elsie-Dee pretending to be a trapped child in the structure. After Wolverine had disposed of his counterpart, it was planned that he would rescue the girl who was in fact filled with explosives within her mechanical frame which would have killed Logan in the process. To accomplish these twin objectives, the mechanical Wolverine only possessed a primitive artificial brain with limited higher logic functions as well as no emotions. Thus, it was unable to be reasoned with and behaved exactly like Wolverine which was needed for the trap. Its counterpart, Elsie-Dee in the mean time was meant to be programed with the mindset of a five year old girl with a similarly limiting artificial intelligence. The android was constructed in Pierce's stronghold and was nearly decapitated by Lady Deathstrike until she was informed that it was part of Donald's newest project. Fooled by the machine, she initially believed it to be a cyborg but Pierce corrected her and elaborated that the automaton was completely synthetic with a moly-steel laminate exoskeleton. As its programming was limited, it lacked any form of conscience or sense of self which Pierce believed was Human baggage that was unnecessary in the fulfilment of its mission. Thus, he deemed that the android Wolverine to be a pure killer. Whilst Yuriko did not believe it capable of the goal, Pierce stated that the killer construct was not meant to be responsible for Logan's demise but rather to serve as bait with the real instrument of Wolverine's destruction being Elsie-Dee who was also being constructed at the time. However, unknown to Pierce, Bonebreaker of the Reavers had mistakenly allowed the artificial intelligence programming for Elsie-Dee to progress to completion instead of stopping it at the mindset of a five year old thus she possessed a maximum logic program. See Venice & Die This automaton was later deployed and masqueraded as the real Logan in order to attract his attention and was accompanied by Elsie-Dee. The pair were responsible for stealing money from numerous places as well as stopping at numerous radio huts and were seen at Venice Boulevard heading to the beach where the android was counting money whilst Elsie-Dee was driving their car to their base. They managed to collect a total of three hundred thousand dollars at which point the fake Wolverine commented that he discovered a transmitter amongst the bills. He asked Elsie-Dee whether he should destroy it to which she said no as well as began calling him "Dummy" as they wanted to attract the attention of Logan. She further explained that the more people that knew where they were the more likely the real Wolverine would arrive. At this point, the mechanical Logan asked Elsie-Dee that it would mean the completion of their programming to which the little android girl said "maybe not" as she had a special surprise for the android Wolverine. She showed him by performing an upgrade of the larger android's brain which she stated that she was going to enhance his intelligence by using components taken from the radio huts that they visited during their crime spree. As she performed the process, she stated that she had speed read all the computer manuals and schematics as well as gained enough parts to perform the upgrade. As a result, the mechanical Wolverine was given a greater degree of intelligence and she stated that she would no longer call him "Dummy". She stated that once she was completed, he was going to be turbo-charged with his tactical and logic capabilities enhanced to an extent that he might have a chance against Wolverine. She also began calling him Albert and stated that she did not do this entirely for him but rather for herself as she wanted him to defeat Wolverine so that she did not need to perform her intended function of blowing up as she gained a sense of self-preservation. Albert responded that his enhanced intelligence made him feel smarter but also made him worry over Elsie-Dee's survival as he did not want to lose her. She in turn revealed that he would never be alone as she now had installed a modem in his body. When Elsie-Dee began working on herself, Albert learnt that Wolverine had arrived at their warehouse base and he went to the trap-door to go underneath the boardwalk of the beach to ambush his target. On silent running, Elsie-Dee instructed Albert through their radio link and he attacked from below where he dragged Logan down. Wolverine was surprised by the attack as he did not smell his attacker beforehand. At the same time, Albert reported back to Elsie-Dee that Logan was fast and a good fighter with their fight taking them above the boardwalks. In the fight, Wolverine managed to slash Albert and it was revealed that he was a construct. A wounded Albert asked Elsie for help through their modem link and felt a range of senses where he asked whether this was what it was like to die. She responded by saying he had back-up systems that would help him repair himself but he needed to escape. However, Albert did not want to leave Elsie-Dee behind but she urged him to run as his failure meant that she needed to continue with her primary programming of killed Wolverine. At that point, the mechanical Albert collapsed after his fight with Wolverine who went running to rescue Elsie-Dee but unaware that she was part of a trap meant to kill him. Deconstruction & Reconstruction The damaged android construct would manage to awaken and escape down the boardwalk where he contemplated Elsie-Dee's words. Albert reminded himself that he was always the bait in this trap and that Elsie was to be the main event. He said that she urged him to escape but he did not want to leave her as she would be initiating her final programming in destroying Wolverine. Thinking that life was easier before he was upgraded, Albert believed that the improvements given by Elsie-Dee made them know and feel too much. Through the modem link, he asked Elsie if Wolverine had arrived and if she was going to initiate her prime directive. She responded that Logan had indeed gone through fires and suffered through the pain to rescue her which made her rethink her programming. Albert's body later flowed down the river where he met a group of criminals that held a grudge against Wolverine. Afraid of the android, they told him that they did not want any trouble "buddy". The use of the word made Albert think that the criminals believed him to be a friend. Sensing an advantage, the criminals offered to help Albert repair himself but he said that they needed to leave urgently as he needed to save Elsie-Dee. Travelling in their car, he received a transmission from Elsie-Dee from their modem link where she asked his help. She elaborated that she had managed to halt the detonation program but needed help in overriding it. When Albert asked how, she stated that he needed to plug into a computer and check nation wide for a means of breaking her detonation code. Telling his new "friends" to stop the car, he went into a Radio Hut electronics store where he began speed reading through the documents present. After reading through numerous manuals, Albert suffered from insufficient storage space and hardware access which necessitated mainframe access. Thus, he used his finger appendage to link to a computer for modem access where he began using its resources to help him break the code present in Elsie-Dee programming. When the police were arriving, his criminal "friends" asked him to come with them but Albert stated he would not leave until he was done. He ultimately managed to break the code and through their modem link he transmitted it direct to Elsie-Dee's detonator system. As he did so, he exited the electronics store where he was shot by the Venice police with him seemingly being terminated as his frequency link with the android girl went dead. The remains of the construct were taken to a Venice, California police station where he was placed in the property room. This was because they were unable to place Albert in an ordinary prison cell, had no storage room and that the morgue was not able to take the body. The act suited Albert fully as he had reactivated himself and used the rooms supply of electronics, weapons as well as bullet-proof vests to upgrade himself. He became stronger, faster, better skilled and bullet-proof. When the FBI arrived to consfiscate the android, they attacked him but the body armor protected him from their weapon fire and he detached his lifesupport umbilicals as he intended to go save Elsie-Dee. He also freed his criminal accomplices due to the help they gave him and departed for Palmdale. Breaking through an electric fence, he broke into a military hanger in order to steal a sophisticated stealth jet and used the radio linkage to track Elsie-Dee to New York though was unable to communicate with her through their modem link at the time. Unaware of the change in circumstances, Albert believed that the only way to protect Elsie-Dee was to kill Wolverine. Improving his body, he turned himself into a living transmitter and used a satellite link to communicate with Elsie-Dee where she revealed she was at the World Trade Center building waiting for him with Wolverine. Albert used this opportunity to ram his stealth jet into Wolverine though this did not kill the Mutant with the two fighting on the plane. Telling Logan that despite being a construct, he felt things and feared for his own existence whilst hating Wolverine for being a living being. When Wolverine asked him if he loved anything, Albert replied that he loved Elsie-Dee and that he was doing all this to save her which meant he needed to kill Logan. In addition, he commented that whilst flying in the jet, he felt a sense of freedom and wanted to give it to the android girl as well. An angry Elsie-Dee told Albert that he ruined everything but the android struck against Wolverine. Elsie-Dee stopped the fight where she revealed that she had halted her detonation program and that there was no reason to fight. Wolverine commented that he held no grudge against Albert and that they were free to go. Albert believed himself to be free but the stealth fighter came under attack from military jets causing it to crash. In its last moments, the android asked Elsie-Dee to forgive him for failing her when the plane fell into the river. Under The Skin Following the crash, both Wolverine and Elsie-Dee survived where they became trapped in the Morlock Tunnels. Though seemingly deactivated, Albert came once again online in the cockpit of the fighter jet and became fixated in saving Elsie-Dee. Underwater, he would encounter her surviving head with her body being destroyed to save Logan. The head was in the hands of Sabretooth when she attacked him to save Wolverine and would have faced certain destruction at Creed's hands until Albert saved her. Taking her head, he used the electronics in the stealth fighter to ensure memory upkeep as without her body, Elsie-Dee was shuttind down. Coming online, an surprised Elsie-Dee showed she was delighted to see Albert still alive. He emerged within the storm drains where he needed power to keep Elsie-Dee alive whereupon he was attacked by two Morlocks. Killing the two, he stated that he could fix anything and that he was not technically alive. The death of the two Morlocks led to Masque agreeing to help him find power and the electronics he needed to make Elsie-Dee a new android body. Tapping into the power grid, he intended to create a much more improved body for Elsie-Dee's head that was to be powered by a strange-matter reactor he was building but still required more energy. At some point, he was also building a tunnel underneath the East River in order to give him a path to the crashed stealth bomber which he was repairing. After completing Elsie-Dee's body, they were ready to depart and encountered Hunter in Darkness who the android girl befriended and called him "Puppy". Upon arriving, Elsie-Dee discovered that Albert had improved upon the bomber which was now twice as stealthy and a strange-matter reactor. Albert later flew the jet with Elsee-Dee and Hunter in Darkness went into the air to embrace their freedom. The android would be on top of the stealth bomber enjoying the air when Elsie-Dee detected faint disturbances in the space-time continuum. Their bomber was later diverted to Canada where they arrived at a site of a Siksika burial ground that the Hunter in Darkness directed them towards. After landing, Albert helped Hunter in Darkness to dig up the mound where they discovered a skeleton with claws in the hands made of adamantium suggesting that the deceased was none other than Wolverine. After running tests, Albert determined that the skeleton was over two hundred years old and determined that it was indeed Logan. At this point, Spiral and Mystique arrived where they revealed they needed an anti-matter bomb developed by Albert needed to save Wolverine in the future due to events created by Mojo in the timestream. The mystery of the Logan skeleton was explained by Spiral to be the result of an alternate time string. They were later seemingly returned back to their own timestream. Cold Comfort However, they were in fact displaced in time and sent three hundred years back into the past where both were deposited in the Canadian burial mound. Trapped in the past, they were at a time when the Native American tribe that populated the area were still alive. They arrived during a schism between the Siksiska tribe with one part being sponsored by the demonic Adversary who intended to limit the time travelling Forge along with Wolverine. During the final battle, Logan asked Elsie-Dee to remain behind to watch over the Siksiska people whereupon Wolverine was once again displaced from the timestream. This saw Albert rise to the position of war chief of the tribe after running through a gauntlet of tests. Once done, Albert along with Elsie-Dee and Hunter in Darkness sought out Wolverine. However, their searches did not find anything and the longer the androids used their sensors the quicker they depleted their energy reserves. They ultimately decided to put themselves into a system sleep to survive though Hunter in Darkness did not relent and continued to search. During this time, they discovered a group of creatures similar to Hunter in Darkness and left him with them before returning to the mound whereupon they deactivated themselves until a power source could awaken them. Once there, they were left deactivated across the centuries until 1994 when Elsie-Dee was discovered by Bloodscream. Elsie-Dee would later take him to help reactivate Albert who was still in the burial mound though the android commented that Bloodscream was not Human according to his scans. Bloodscream would state that he was a persecuted Mutant just like Wolverine though Elsie-Dee did not believe him initially and wanted Albert to do a lie detector test on him. However, they were surrounded by Human scangers and poachers who were stealing from the burial mound. When Elsie-Dee told them to stop, the scavengers shot her and Albert. Bloodscream would demonstrate his Mutant ability and attack them which allowed the two androids to recover where they attacked the poachers thus forcing them to retreat. This encounter would lead to Elsie-Dee to believe Bloodscream was indeed a friend of Wolverine and decided to accompany him to search for Logan with Albert performing the search through the internet. His trace determined that Logan was in fact in Canada at a nearby research facility. Their pace was slowed by Bloodscream who stated that their endurance and capacity to run long distances was superior to himself despite him being a Mutant. Thus, they were unable to reach Logan in time and could not retrieve Hunter in Darkness as the beast decided to remain with his own kind. Bloodscream urged the androids to find Logan as his life was in danger and thus Albert summoned his stealth bomber that was still inactive in the Hudson Bay. They would later depart in the jet to Tibert where Albert detected a large concentration of Mutant psi-signatures where they intended to go save Wolverine. Powers and Abilities *'Backup Systems' : the mechanical Wolverine had his own version of a healing factor that allowed him to repair himself but required that he escape the battlefield in order to initiate the process. *'Computer Interface' : after his upgrade, Albert was able to link into a computer and access its systems. *'Kevlar Armor' : after being placed in the Venice police station, Albert was placed in the property room where he managed to augment himself which included Kevlar Armor that made him resistant to projectile weapon fire. *'Modem' : Elsie Dee installed a modem into Albert when she enhanced his intelligence and allowed him to communicate her remotely though this depended on reception quality with certain places blocking this communication and link remotely to other computers. *'Sensors' : Albert contained non-passive sensors though these were mitigated in darker environments and had infrared dampers as well. After his upgrades, he was able to perform long range scans where he was able to run infrared along with spectrographic narrow field scans where he was able to detect phermone signatures. *'Upgraded Artificial Intelligence' : Albert was initially not programmed for advanced intelligence until Elsie Dee upgraded his mind which allowed him to improve himself with technological components available to him, make advanced calculations, speed read documents and link to other computers to increase his memory capacity. Notes *A version of Albert from Earth-5211 features in Exiles Vol 1 85 where he is dispatched by the Time Broker to eliminate Brother Mutant where he dies successfully in his mission. Trivia *The fact that Elsie-Dee stated that the upgrades would make him into a regular Einstein and that she named him Albert would seem to suggest that she named the android after Albert Einstein. Elsie-Dee would later confirm this in Wolverine Vol 2 83. Links *http://marvel.wikia.com/Albert_(Earth-616) *http://www.comicvine.com/albert/29-15689/ Category:Characters